Poetics and Poetry Discussion

happy Friday indeed. I'm about bald from tearing my hair out trying to set up a webpage on geocities.com, and for lack of technical savvy (ie my husband) I give up. Poems/bios/cover/intro are ALMOST DONE! I'm just waiting to finalize a couple pieces but they're definitely ready for perusal. If I get them into a PDF (rough draft, just to check data) , can we post them on someone's homepage(Max, Ronberge...) ?

I would say that this poem's weakness is its sincerity - like so many WW1 poems, there are things hurting to be said which obstruct the technical brilliance we find - amazingly - in Owen, Sassoon, and ... more

Does anyone have an 'estimate' on how long until the 'anthology' is ready to purchase? Yes, I know it hasn't been 'in the works' long.... I'm just curious what is a realistic amount of time we're talking about. days? weeks? months? :) Thanks, Mary

good morning, all! Happy Friday! Update, hopefully answering some questions: I vote no on photos - too personal and too much work (trust me, the bios are taking as long as the poems!) I am VERY ... more

To answer your other question, it is kept ready to order for as long as it is kept up on the site, as far as I know. Perhaps, in the future, new information will come to light about how you have to p ... more

'After Apple Picking' is surely Frost's equivalent of Prospero's (Shakespeare's) farewell to his art in 'The Tempest', and reading the two poems/passages together enhances appreciation, imho, of both poets, and of poetry in general.
Interesting how the explanations of poems are always longer than the poems!

Laura, I'm not a poetry or EngLit teacher any longer, but writing a commentary on your own poem...? ! just DON'T write the commentary first! ! otherwise the poem might have all the sound of a grand pi ... more

PROSPERO'S FAREWELL TO HIS MAGIC from THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare **** Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin a ... more

I would just love for everyone here to have a headshot! I still don't know what most people here look like. (even you........only a shadow) :) Although I will say I'm happy to see so many have p ... more

Movers, Those Who Care, and Shakers. Every now and then a poem makes the hair at the back of my head stand up. This beautiful piece by Emily Dickinson, arguably the best lady poet ever, did it to me. Additionally, an adored person makes it even more poignant. Enjoy, already!

It's all I have to bring today,
This, and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields,
And all the meadows wide.
Be sure you count, should I forget, -
Some one the sum could tell, -
This, and my heart, and all the bees
Which in the clover dwell.

Here to brighten your day is a despatch from li'l ole England...
Trafalgar Square, repository of Britain's bronzed heroes and statesmen, has long been the haunt of pigeons/tourists/pigeon-food sellers.Symbiotic relationship.
It has had one empty plinth for years. Boldly, this is now filled with a monumental statue of Alison Lapper, born without arms, and having abandoned her prosthetics, pregnant, nude, and marble. The pigeons have deserted the bronzes and settled for her lap, depositing their critical aesthetic judgment on her instead. A touching story?

I’ve unearthed this fake fraudulent version of John Kay’s infamous email letter to Marcy Jarvis. If anyone has the actual fraudulent version, please post it.

Dear Marcy,
Why are you so uptight about the constructive comments I leave on people’s poems? Are you upset because I called your poems shallow? Or maybe it was because I called them have-baked, mediocre nothings. Well, whatever it was, you’ve so over-reacted that now you appear to be quite insane. Please stop calling me. With respect, John.

My dear Marcy: It is with some trepidation that I am writing to you today. Whenever a fling, and I use the term after some deliberation, whenever a fling such as ours comes to an untimely end it ... more